The curious case of the two-fisted drinkers

I don't have any stats to back this up, but it sure seems like every time I see a commercial in which a woman is drinking coffee, she is holding the coffee mug with two hands. Come to think of it, the women at the coffee shop this morning were doing the same.

Why is that?

Is it a hand-warmer kind of thing? Compensation for many lost cuddling opportunities? Something with which to vex men for no logical reason?

I can't remember ever using two hands to drink coffee. Oh, wait, just as I typed that, I thought about the times when I drank coffee from a bowl, as the French do, and the time when someone at Coffee Cottage filled the bowl to the brim, and I had to hold it with two hands until I had enough clearance to be sure I wouldn't spill.

(Full disclosure: I've spilled coffee several times, but it was from just knocking over the cup, not being unable to drink with one hand.)

But yeah, I saw a commercial for the Keurig system, and a few different brands of coffee, and the women were holding their coffee cups with both hands, and really looking like they were bonding with them. Maybe the two-handed approach makes it more of a connection, more of a special moment. But what do I know?

Anyway, I'm in the Pacific Northwest, where there is no shortage of coffee. I have several mugs, and I have two hands. I might have to try it when nobody is looking.

When a coffee cup held six liquid ounces, women held the cup by the handle, pinkie finger daintily curved. Gradually, the size of the cup became larger and larger. Soon, women were expected to hold a quart of boiling hot coffee in a mug that, even when empty, weighed several pounds. Women can be very good at solving such bewildering problems. How does one daintily heft ten liquid pounds of coffee? Use BOTH hands! Since we also tend to retain our programming, it never occurs to most females to simply switch to smaller drinking vessels. But that's a comment for another day...